EDINBURGH,
SCOTLAND -- Scottish Ballet and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
will team up August 26-28 at the Edinburgh International Festival. They
will mount the world premiere of NEW WORK (2011), by Jorma Elo, and SONG
OF THE EARTH, first created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1965.

Hot on the
heels of his recent triumphs at San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet
and Nederlands Dans Theater, Jorma Elo's much-anticipated new commission
for Scottish Ballet features Mozart's First Violin Concerto and music
by Steve Reich. Elo is the resident choreographer of Boston Ballet.

SONG OF
THE EARTH is set to Mahler's beautiful song cycle Das Lied von der Erde,
which explores mankind's struggle to accept mortality and the hope and
eventual renewal that comes with death. Mahler set texts from Chinese
poems of the T'ang Dynasty, translated into German. Joining the dancers
of Scottish Ballet are mezzo soprano Katarina Karneus and tenor Peter
Wedd, plus the Royal Scottish National Orchesta led by Sian Edwards.